Special Educators' Working Conditions in Self-Contained Settings for Students With Emotional or Behavioral Disorders: A Descriptive Analysis

Special education teachers (SETs) who teach students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) in self-contained settings are often less qualified, more stressed and burned out, and more likely to leave teaching than other SETs, resulting in a less effective workforce teaching students with significant behavioral and academic needs. Working conditions are a lever by which outcomes can be improved for SETs in these settings, yet the extant research on SETs' working conditions in self-contained settings is scarce; no researchers have comprehensively examined these SETs' working conditions using a national sample. To fill this crucial gap in the literature, we surveyed a national sample (n = 171) of SETs serving students with EBD in self-contained classes. We describe findings in terms of the working conditions that SETs experienced-social (e.g., administrator support, paraprofessionals, professional development) and logistical (e.g., instructional grouping, instructional resources, planning time)-providing implications for research, policy, and practice.